Really good hearing protection

I bought this hearing protector, Peltor H10A Optime 105 Over-the Head Earmuff, based on customer reviews and a reasonable price (under $20). It is really effective at muffling sound without resorting to fancy electronics. It's nice when a product does just what it's supposed to do.

How to Make a Box Fan Dust Collector

If you do a lot of sanding with your drill press and would like to make a dust collector like the one I posted, you'll need a 20" box fan, two 20" furnace filters, and some masking tape. One of these filters should be a standard one, and the other should be one with a higher rating that is meant to trap smaller particles. Here's how to do it:

1. Tape the two filters together so that the standard one is on top of the finer one, with the arrows pointing away from you.

2. Place the box fan with the back side facing you. This is the side into which air is drawn. You'll feel the breeze on the opposite side.

3. Tape the joined filters to the back side of the fan. The air will first go through the regular filter, then the finer one, then out the front.

4. Place the dust collection system close to your drill press, filters facing the drill press. You should be able to see the dust fly into the filter.

Capturing dust from the drill press

Since I use the drill press for sanding, as well as drilling, I needed a way to capture the dust that goes flying all over the place. Although we may eventually construct a holder for a shop vac hose, this quick fix--one box fan and two filters--does a surprisingly good job on fine dust. I place it at the end of my work table about a foot away from the drill press, then just put it on the floor when I'm finished. The sawdust on the filter is from walnut, which is why it's so dark, but it's positive proof that this simple device is really working. And yes, it's time to change the filter!

Dust collection for the combination sander

Since space is an issue, we decided that the shop vac would do double duty as a dust collector for the combination sander. The problem was to figure out the best way to connect the vac to the 4" dust port. The answer was a deli container that fit into the dust port, a piece of wood cut at an angle to fit the deli container, a hole cut in the wood for the shop vac hose, some rubber roofing membrane to stabilize the lip of the deli container, and a hose clamp to hold everything in place. And the best part of it is that it works really well!

Low tech is often very effective

As I flattened out the side of a strip for a glue-up, I was reminded of how much use I make of this simple sanding device. It consists of a granite tile with a sheet of sandpaper, about 150 grit, glued on with repositionable adhesive. I use it to prepare the faces of bowl rings before gluing them up, and for final "tweaking" of cut surfaces that need to be glue-line flat. When the paper is used up, I just remove the old paper, clean up the granite with mineral spirits, then fasten on a new sheet. If you've never tried doing this, you're in for a pleasant surprise.

Shop is up and running

Well, the tools are finally in place and I've started living in my new "home". Only the bandsaw remains to be assembled, but all my basic tools are up and running. The space we're using is a one car garage which must still be usable to park a car (condo rules), so we put all the heavier stuff on mobile bases and can get the car in without difficulty. We rigged up an adapter for the sanders so we can use the shop vac for dust collection, and we're using a box fan with two filters for the drill press. Here are some pictures of the main wall.